The One with All the Big News

Before I get to all my big news I have to tell a little background story:

The past few weeks have been crazy busy. About 6 weeks ago our landlord decided that we didn’t pay enough for utilities, so he wanted to raise the price we paid for them. We did some calculations ourselves and turned out we were already paying way too much for utilities. So we told him we were willing to pay more if he could prove to us, we were actually spending that much, if he didn’t want to prove it, he should just let us go before our lease was up and without paying a fine.

He chose the leaving part and then decided to put our appartment up for rent with the same price for utilities but a higher rent. It was pretty much clear to us that he just wanted to raise rent and since he couldn’t do that with us in it, he wanted to get more money by raising the cost of utilities.

So we had 4 months to find a new place. We decided pretty soon that we didn’t want to go through this trouble again and decided to buy a house instead of renting one. It was a hard search. Because we’re planning on having 3 children and we both need an office/sewing area, we needed quite a big house. We also wanted a large backyard in a well-located area. I can tell you, it wasn’t easy locating anything within our budget either.

But then we found it… The perfect 5 bedroom house, with a huge backyard. It requires minimum amounts of work and I just fell in love.

So we put in our offer and a week later we got the good news!

We now actually own a house!!!

The house!

The garden is huge!

So we’re very very happy.

But that’s not the end of my story yet.

The second week of May, I wasn’t feeling MMM13 anymore. I wasn’t feeling too well, I was busy running around to get everything sorted for the new house and the weather wasn’t allowing me to wear as many Me-Mades as I wanted to. So I decided to stop taking pictures, stop blogging about it and just wear the Me-Mades I could. It felt like such a relief.

Now, I found out why I wasn’t feeling too well. I wasn’t coming down with something, apparently I’m just PREGNANT 🙂 And you can not believe how happy I am with that! We found out on Tuesday, signed the deed to our house on Wednesday so you can imagine it was a pretty hectic week.

We told our families over the weekend. My mother couldn’t stop crying, but they were happy tears 🙂

So we’re very happy to have our house and our new baby on the way (due in January).

I once said I couldn’t wait to be pregnant so I could order ALL of Megan Nielsen’s maternity patterns. Well, I splurged and I did buy them ALL!

My boyfriend is very happy as well, keeps giving little kissing on my tummy – I’m so glad he doesn’t read my blog or he would kill me for telling you this 😉

He even bought me this very very very cute set of bibs!

These will be my inspiration for the nursery, as I think they’re not gender specific and make a cute idea for both boys and girls!

So that was it. It has been a thrilling week and there is a very exciting and scary time coming, but I’m looking forward to it!

I actually got some sewing done as well this week, including a new coat, but more about that later as coats are less important than babies 🙂

The One with The Eucalypt Reversible Dress.

I’ve had a crazy week! My long week actually started with a 4 day camping trip in France. Last week I went camping in France for 4 days and although I love going back to basics, this wasn’t the basics I thought it would be. I spend 4 days without running water, without electricity and without decent toilets… On top of it all it was cold and raining constantly. Not the back to basics I had in mind 🙂 But leave it to a true sewcialist to spot a fabric store in the middle of nowhere.

I (obviously) had to check it out and found some gorgeous fabric that I knew was destined to become a pair of Tania Culottes.

The Tania Culottes are part of Megan Nielsen’s new Breakwater collection and those who know me (or read my blog) know that I have an undying love for Megan’s patterns. So it didn’t come as much of a shock when I ABSOLUTELY loved her new collection. Without even realising it I had ordered and paid for the entire Collection Pack. 4 patterns for the price of 3, sounds awesome right! Because patience isn’t my strong side I opted for the 3 day DHL delivery.

When I was in France I got a call from DHL and they told me that I still had 20 euro of import taxes to pay… I really really really hate my country at a time like that! The money I saved by buying the collection pack was in the end spend at import taxes.

But in the end the package did arrive this week. I was so happy to see it arrive because weather was dreadful, work was crazy busy and I wasn’t feeling Me-Made-May at all. The new collection pack felt like a little ray of sunshine in a cloudy week.

It was difficult to decide which pattern to start with but I opted for the easiest one. The Eucalypt Tank/Dress.

Because this was such an easy pattern I set myself a little challenge. I went through the variations Megan suggested and I decided to go for a button down dress. But not just a button down dress, I wanted to make it a reversible button down dress.

So let me tell you how I did it!

Fabric:

I chose 2 fabrics I had in my stash, a white cotton with strawberries and apple/grass green cotton.

Size and alterations:

I cut a size M but lengthened it to the longest hem.

I added 4 cm to either side of the CF seam to create enough room for the button placket. I then sewed 2 dresses using the explanation in the booklet. When I finished the dresses, I put them right sides together and using a 1.5 cm seam allowance sewed all the way round. Then I pulled the dress inside out through the armholes. I pressed the entire thing and topstitched all around to secure the pressed seams. I finished the armholes using bias tape.

I’ve sewn the buttons through both layers of fabric since the dress is big enough to put on over my head. That spared me the difficulty of sewing 11 buttonholes.

Level and special skills:

There are absolutely no special skills needed for this pattern, this is by far the easiest pattern ever!

Time to complete:

About 2 hours (without sewing on the dreadful buttons)

Will I make it again:

Uhm, yes, I have a denim version planned, a chambray version, another reversible version and that’s just for the dresses!

Overall conclusion:

 

As always, Megan patterns are superb. The explanation in the booklet is very very clear! I love the pattern, although I couldn’t wear it without a belt. But that’s okay, I love button down dresses with a belt. I especially love the longer hem at the back because it gives me a little more confidence when teaching a class. If I have to choose between the two sides I do prefer the strawberry side but it wouldn’t work without the tiny splash of green peeking out.

And to top it all off, because it was the only nice day in a long time I got the chance to check whether it was bike proof and it probably is 75% bike proof. It would have been 95% bike proof if it wasn’t for the center front. (The Tania culottes are probably 100% bike proof) The flaps underneath the bottom button kept ‘flapping’ in the wind, exposing quite a lot of leg, but when riding in the woods it was quite alright. I might have to go back and add some extra buttons because it wasn’t very gape-proof but I hate sewing on buttons especially since the two buttons are sewn on top of each other.

 

It was a wonderful day spend entirely with my lovely boyfriend. Who btw loves the dress but would prefer it in a solid colour. He’s not a big fan of prints but I’m not really giving a f*ck. I love prints!

You will never believe what I got my hands on!

Remember my great – free- vintage dress form?

Well, I even got my hands on something better!

Somehow my parents ended up with a vintage sewing machine. It had been sitting outside for years so the table top was ruined and they had it standing outside for a complete summer and somehow forgot about it. When I mentioned today that I was looking for vintage sewing machines, they remembered. It’s a shame that it has taken such a beating but I intend to restore it and use it as deco around the house.

But what’s even better! While my mother was looking for wardrobes to put in my bathroom she send me a link to a sort of ‘swap’ organization. You can buy and sell items and services but you don’t actually pay in money. You pay with a kind of points. When you go out and help people, they give you an amount of points, you can then use those points to buy other items or get stuff done around the house. For instance, I need someone to help me with my garden and in return I help people by making pillow covers.

Anyhow to make a long story short, I came across this absolute beauty! I think it is save to say that this could be the potential new love of my life! I intend to use this one and cherish it and love it and never let it go! And it even comes with the original manual.

 

I think this can be considered a very good day indeed!

The One with The Darling Ranges Peplum Top

I bought the fabric on Friday because fabric with threadspools on them is just impossible to resist for a Sewcialist 🙂 I wanted to make a Darling Ranges dress out of it but I also wanted to add a collar (I love collars!). Because I was afraid it would be too much, I decided to try my first peplum top ever.

Alterations:

I shortened the sleeves, made a round neckline, added a collar, shortened the skirt (25cm).

This is probably the nicest thing I ever made. This might possibly look even better on the inside than on the outside. French seams everywhere! Every fricking seam!! I pressed, I measured, I unpicked until it was completely perfect! I had never made or worn a peplum top before but I really love how it looks (I’m keeping the reveal for a Me-Made-May’13 post)

My boyfriend didn’t really like it though. He thought it made me look pregnant and he wants me to sew less print. Too bad for him then, because I love it and I love the fact that I’m finally brave enough to wear prints!

Some of you may have noticed that I have a new dress form. It’s a vintage dress form that they were going to throw out at the school were I work. I saved it from the dump and took it home. I need to recover it because the cover has some tears and some waterstains from a leak. But seriously this is what I wanted and it already makes my clothes look nicer than the adjustable one.

Any ideas for a name for my new dress form. She deserves it!

The One With The Crazy Weekend

One thing I noticed I was lacking a bit for MMM’13 were tops and cardigans. So because this weekend for the first time in weeks, I had time to sew stuff I just sewed away. And I might have overdone it 🙂

Above:

I had some red cotton jersey and red lace left from the dress I made. So I made a T-shirt (self-drafted) out of the jersey with a lace overlay at the front and lace sleeves. I made a matching jersey cardigan based on the Renfrew pattern.

Below:

• Another Renfrew cardigan, but in a lacey sweater knit. I’ve got the same one cut out on my table in olive.
• A green top with border print refashioned from a knit dress I once made and only wore once because I made it before I discovered the wonders of pressing. I used FOE for the neckline and armholes and seriously… I’M IN LOVE WITH THAT STUFF!
• My pride and joy of this weekend: A Darling Ranges Peplum Top!

Me-Made-May ’13 – Week 1

My first MMM week has past. It was a short week, only 5 days but it has been fun already!

 

May the 1st:

My first day started on the 30th of April. I had to go to a prom hosted by my old sorority and decided to make my own red lace dress.  I got lots of compliments.

The pattern is based on the Maria Denmark Day To Night top. I saw the dress on SewBusyLizzy’s blog and fell in love with it. So when I was trying to decide what I was going to wear, it wasn’t too difficult. It’s made from a red stretch lace underlined with matching cotton jersey. Except for the back, which is just the lace. For the hem I cut around the lace flowers and did the same for the back neckline.

The rest of the day (it was a day off) I spend lounging in my pajamas.

May the 2nd:

I pledged to wear 2 seperates or one dress a day, but it was Sports day at school and I had forgotten about it, so the only thing I got to wear was my first Day to Night top. Made out of a dress I tried to make once, I re-used it to make the top, I had already attached the lace to the dress so I just re-used it.

But if it helps, the morning started off really cold so I wore a MM – scarf. Although it was a Mom-Made scarf and not a Me-Made scarf 🙂

May the 3rd:

This dress is made of a pattern called ‘Farah Fawcett’ and it’s the first cotton dress I ever made.

May the 4th:

This is my favourite outfit out of this week. My very first Banksia top and my red pencil skirt. I felt very 50’s housewife in it, especially paired with pumps and a beehive. My cat seemed to like it as well.

May the 5th:

My first Day to Night dress. This was actually the muslin I made for the lace dress but it’s perfect and very very comfortable!

 

I’ve made loads of new stuff this weekend so next week will be fun!